Ma Premiere Semaine A Geneve

While it was hard to leave my family and friends behind, as well as a rare sunny San Francisco, my husband and I could not be more pleased with our trip to Geneva.  A few key pieces of advice when travelling to visit us:
- Be nice to your check-in agent, he has the power to upgrade you to Business Class for free!
- Don't overpack the 2 suitcases you get to check for free (you can go up to 50.9 pounds, but not over).
-  Sleep on the plane no matter if you're sitting First, Business, or Economy. Jetlag sucks.

We arrived around noon on Saturday, which I would say is the better of the few options you have for flying to Geneva.  Our first trip here we left around 7am and got here around 8am the next day. We were extremely lucky to be able to check into our hotel early that trip. This time, we left around noon and arrived around noon. Chances of checking in were much higher. And trust me, you will want to check in right away and take a several hour nap. We sure did.

The first few days here were spent wandering the neighborhood of Paquis, which is located on the Rive Gauche (right bank) of Lake Geneva, where our hotel was located. We discovered a pub called Mr. Pickwick's. Its a little reminiscent of The Bus Stop and Kell's in San Francisco. It has the dark wood tables, the smell of beer, and a man to woman ratio of 10 to 1.  Of course the only sport that was being shown was soccer, but we are in Europe, so c'est la vie! Good thing we got the Slingbox.

We also happened to discover the finish line of a bike race called Tour de Romandie!  The race went through the Paquis area, down the Pont du Mont-Blanc, and into Eaux-Vives, where the finish line was a few blocks past Travers' office.  We stood and watched and waited. They had cars coming down the road with banners and flags, and crazy decorations on their roofs. Then a huge black helicopter came flying over, and within seconds, hundreds of bike racers came flying past us to the finish line. It lasted about 10 seconds at best, but it was amazing to see those racers peddaling so fast and flying by.  What an amazing event to stumble upon.

The rest of this week Travers has been settling in at work, while I get to explore the city and settle us in at our new home.  I would say the toughest part of being here is the language barrier. It is intimidating walking into a store or boutique and the first thing you hear is a language that you don't know. I struggle for the right phrase in French to say "I don't speak french", and instead it comes out in a mumbled "Sorry". Lucky for me, a lot of people speak english. So I'll need to get over my fears and just start speaking english and hope they understand. I start my french lessons next Wednesday, so hopefully it will come back to me quickly. 

And just to make all of you back home a little jealous, yesterday afternoon, Travers and I sat at a Cafe called La Clemence in Place du Bourg-De-Four, in Old Town. It was a sunny afternoon, and all the tables were packed with people drinking coffee or beer, enjoying the sun and casual conversation. There were two men playing music, one on an accordian, and one on a keyboard. It was definitely your picturesque european cafe experience.

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois (Until next time)
xoxo Megan